Anxiety is arguably the greatest blocker of creativity.
It causes the brain to operate at a frequency we call Beta, which greatly reduces it’s ability to access more than just a few elements of stimulus, and which tend to all be entirely conscious and driven by the brain’s love for efficiency. The result virtually eliminates the brain's generation of fresh thoughts, ideas or options.
In business, this anxiety is very often caused by deadlines. Whilst great for ensuring we get stuff done, it cripples our ability to come up with anything new.
Ever had that thought to yourself “I’m too busy to think!” Well this is exactly what’s going on inside at those moments.
Now, deadlines in business are not going away, and nor should they. They help make the difference between ‘Crazytivity’ - mindless blue sky thinking or endless possibility, and actually using creativity for positive impact and competitive advantage.
Deadlines themselves aren’t even the actual problem. They are simply a trigger, which we then filter ourselves to determine if it affects or state or not. Studies continually show that the most creative people in business, at all levels, are those more able to not let deadlines change their state.
So that’s the key, particularly in a fast moving organisation like ours. How do we change our behaviour so that we make deadlines work better for us and not keep us in that ‘busy beta’ mode, where our thinking is restricted to existing or obvious connections.
The answer is simply practice. We’ve been conditioned in business to react how we do to deadlines. We simply need to unlearn that reaction and form new habits.
Two top tips for you. The first is to simply acknowledge, and celebrate a deadline, as soon as it appears, and to allow your full brain to work on it for you, for as long as possible. For example, if you know you have a big pitch or idea deadline or important meeting, coming up in a month, our tendency is to not even begin thinking about it until much closer the time. Change that. Right down the situation or issue and stick up where you will see it often. Lock it in your head and allow yourself to think about it. Having it on display will subconsciously remind your brain to do it’s wonderful work. If you think of things that are related, however formed, write them on a post it or something and stick them up around your challenge. That way, as your deadline looms, you’ve got a whole stack of fresh thinking to help stimulate new connections when the times comes to actually committing to output or decisions. And you know what, other people may even see your issue written, and contribute their own thoughts on it. Even more gorgeous stimulus.
I’ve got much better at doing this with practice, and it’s amazing. I often don’t even write presentations, pitches or speeches anymore, or workshop and meeting agendas, until I’m literally on the plane to the session or even the morning of. Not because I’m lazy, but because I want my brain to do its amazing best until the last possible moment. The only thing that potentially suffers are my slides. But in 20 years of working, I’ve never had someone not go with an idea or proposal because I wasn’t using Roboto size 12 consistently on every slide.
I joke. And I appreciate every situation is different, so please, take the principle. It works I promise you.
Another top tip is more short term, but just as effective. Go with me on this. Each week we come to work and are welcomed with a packed diary and daily deadlines. This means every day we’re in ‘beta’, getting stuff done by the end of the day, then repeating the next day, and the next. We never have a chance to just relax and let our brains work at their best, or if we do, it’s when we’re at home when we should be relaxing with loved ones and friends.
Change It! Make all your deadlines Friday. Give it a couple of weeks and you’ll soon get into sync with it. If something is due the following Tuesday, then the preceding Friday is your deadline for it. This way you can make Just one day your ‘get stuff done’ day, and free up the rest of the week to actually do what google employs us for over others - to think, challenge, create.
Again, take the principle of this and make it work for you. But if nothing changes, nothing will change. If it needs to be Friday and Thursday as get stuff done days, sobeit. Even if your role is so biased to action and output generation, free up just one day, or even a half day, when you simply think without analysis and judgement. Protect your diary and make it even more effective by using that time to kick your thoughts around with others, inviting collaboration, and by helping your brain be in its best mode by doing something physical, and by creating conditions that allow you to relax. Getting away from your desk is a start.
I know it’s easy for me to say all this and there will be reasons why you can insists this won’t work for you. But I’ll say it again, take the principle and trust the science. After a while you won’t need the structures, because it will become your habitual way of working.
Start to fill that gap between how you know you should be working to be most effective at work, and how you actually are.
So that’s it. Please try it and let others know how you get on. Join the G+ community at Magic Academy legends and share your stories, and visit our website at go/magicacademy for more Applied Magic top tips.
